Cyprus in the Frame

One of the biggest groups to attend this year's Malta Open comes from the other bowling-crazy Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Their Charis Panayiotou left it to the final qualifying squad to put his tiny nation in the frame, clinching the €100 squad bonus

by leading the final 20 bidding for glory with 1347, holding a clear 84 pin buffer over second-placed Ovind Norhagen from Norway.

This brings the Cypriot into Sunday's finals in fourth place in the overall standings with 2585 over his 12-game block.

"I was very close to taking the squad prize on the first day," said Charis. "Then I missed a 6-pin and lost the lead. This time I took the lead after the second game and never looked back.

"I live in Paphos on the Cyprus coast but I bowl in Limassol, which is about 65 km away. I play with Team Navigator there. I've only been bowling for seven years and this is my sixth time at the Malta Open. Last year I missed the cut by just two pins but I have been in the finals three or four times."

Jos Bakker from Holland has the doubtful distinction of just making the cut at 26th place with 2316 and Denmark's Allen Mortensen rues missing a spare to miss the cut by just two pins.

Nine of the eleven nations competing for Malta Open honors this year are represented in Sunday's final rounds.

Positions 1-6 in the final qualifying standings have the benefit of byes into the third round of tomorrow's final rounds. Those in positions 7-12 advance to stage 2 and positions 13-26, plus four from tonight's Desperado squad open the day's proceedings with four games scratch starting at 09:oo tomorrow morning.

THE FOUR DESPERADO SQUAD QUALIFIERS:

1. Loukas Evripidou, Cyprus                       245

2. John Balani, Malta                                        236

3. Christis Christou, Cyprus                        225

4. Menno v.d Heuvel, Holland                    218

QUALIFYING STANDINGS: